[Foundation-l] Instant Commons : INCORRECT

Thu Jun 8 20:49:44 UTC 2006

On 6/8/06, Daniel Arnold <arnomane at gmx.de> wrote:
> Burn all Fair Use images on *all* Wikimedia projects *now*.

:-) As we have discussed many times, there are many valid instances of
fair use, from the use of logos or copyrighted characters which will
never be freely licensed, to historical photographs of great
significance. Copyright law provides us with exemptions exactly
because it recognizes the potential educational value of using
copyrighted materials. We should not weaken the position of those who
depend on those exemptions by positioning ourselves against them.

And I really doubt that it would even improve the situation. Yes, we
have many en.wikipedians assuming that en: works like Commons: and
vice versa, in spite of 20 cm high letters telling them that it ain't
so. Well, these people are probably not following existing
en.wikipedia fair use policy either. No amount of policy is going to
stop them. You just have to whack them over the head a few times until
they get it.

What I do think we need to do, and I've said it before, is make sure
that every Wikimedia at least _has_ a sane policy on those matters.
Because I doubt that this is currently the case.

Erik